LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 




Chap. 3^2.3:2:0; 

Shelf ,h % V.85 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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GINIA ADDRESS 



A Convention of Delegates, appointed by Public Meetings in the several Counties 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia, for the purpose of adopting measures to prevent the 
election of General Jackson to the Presidency, assembled, to the number of 220, in 
the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on Tuesday the 8th of January. The Conven- 
tion, being organized, proceeded to the discharge of the interesting duty for which 
it had assembled, and continued to sit, from day to day, deliberating on, and maturing, 
the requisite measures, until Saturday, the 12th, when the Committee appointed to 
prepare an Address, (comprising several of the ablest and most eminent men in the 
State,) reported the following Address and Resolutions, which, having been read 
through, were unanimously adopted, as follows : 

TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA. 

Having been delegated, by those who oppose the election of Andrew Jackson as 
President of the United States, and having assembled in the City of Richmond, pur- 
suant to our appointment, and formed an Electoral Ticket, we feel it due to ourselves, 
to those who deputed us, and to our country, to submit a brief exposition of our views 
on the very interesting subject which has brought us together. 

It is no ordinary occasion, which, at this inclement season of the year, has brought so 
many of us from our business and our homes. We believed that the dearest interests 
of our country were at stake ; that her character, her peace and happiness, and even 
the permanence of her free institutions, were in peril. We feared the most pernicious 
consequences from the election of General Jackson, and we have come to consult about 
the means of averting this calamity from our country. We believe that the only means 
of effecting this great object is the re-election of the present Chief Magistrate, and 
have formed an Electoral Ticket for that purpose, which we earnestly recommend to 
the support of the People of Virginia. 

We know that many of you strongly disapprove some of the leading measures of the 
present Administration, — have not confidence in it, and would be exceedingly unwill- 
ing to sanction the principles of construction applied by the present Chief Magistrate 
to the Constitution of the United States. But we do. not perceive, in these circum- 
stances, any sufficient reason for withholding your support from the ticket we have 
recommended. We ourselves are not agreed upon these subjects. While some dis- 
approve these measures, want confidence in the Administration, and are unwilling to 
sanction the principles of construction adopted by the President, -—most of us approve 
the general course of the Administration, have confidence in its virtue, its patriotism, its 
wisdom, and see nothing to condemn in the President's interpretation of the Federal 
Constitution. Yet we do not discuss among ourselves, and we will not discuss before 
you, the grounds of this difference. We waive such discussion, as wholly inappropriate, 
and postpone it to the time when there may be some choice offered us, that might be 
influenced by it. Now there is none such. We are left to the alternative of choosing 1 
between Jackson and Adams ; and however we may differ in opinion as to the merits 
of the latter, we heartily concur in giving him a decided preference over his competitor. 
The measures which some disapprove in the present Administration, none would hope 
to see amended under that of General Jackson : the distrust in the present Chief Magis? 
Irate, entertained by some, is lost in the comparison with that which all feel in his com- 
petitor ; and the Constitution, which we would preserve from the too liberal interpre- 
tation of Mr. Adams, we would yet more zealously defend against the destroying hand 
of his rival. 

While, however, we decline a discussion of those subjects, on which we differ in 
opinion, and pretermit any general vindication of the Chief Magistrate, his Cabinet, or 
his measures, we cannot pass unnoticed some topics connected with the last election* 
and some acts of the Administration, m relation to \diicli, we think, the public mind 
has been greatly abused. 





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The friends of General Jackson have confidently held him up, as the favorite of the 
People—have insisted that, in the last election, his plurality* of votes pi'oved him to be 
the choice of the nation — and have bitterly complained, that that choice was impro- 
perly disappointed by the Representatives ih Congress. 

Never was there a more direct appeahto those prejudices and passions, which, on 
all occasions, the good should disdain, and the wise should repress ; never was a 
complaint more utterly ungrounded ; and never one more characteristic of that disre- 
gard for the Constitution, which has been manifested on more occasions than one, when 
its provisions stood in the way of General Jackson's march. 

Whether General Jackson is the People's favorite, is to be tested by the event, not 
assumed as the basis of the pending election. That his plurality of votes proved him 
to be the choice of the nation at the last election, we confidently deny. It may, 
perhaps, be found, upon examination, that, while General Jackson had a" plurality of 
electoral votes, Mr. Adams had a plurality of votes at the polls ; and we are confident, 
that if Mr. Crawford and Mr. Clay had been withdrawn from the canvass, and the con- 
test had been single-handed between General Jackson and Mr. Adams, the election 
would have resulted as it has done, in the choice of Mr. Adams. 

But this is not the light in which this question deserves consideration. The minds of 
the People ought not to be influenced by such extraneous considerations ; and above 
all, the principles of our Constitution ought not to be abused, by admitting, for a 
moment, that the plurality of votes given to General Jackson, should have governed 
the choice of the House of Representatives. We do not mean to say, that a proper re- 
spect for the wishes of the nation, fairly ascertained, ought not always to be observ- 
ed by its Representatives. But we do say, that the present Chief Magistrate holds his 
seat by the will of the People of the United States, regularly expressed, in the only 
way in which an expression of that will has any authority. They have willed, in the 
most solemn form — in the form of a Constitution, which they declare shall be the 
supreme law of the land — that a plurality of votes shall not constitute an election ; that, 
when there is such plurality, the Representatives shall elect, voting by States — thus 
withdrawing from the People that equality of influence which is given them in the 
first vote, and transferring it to the States in the second. This provision of our Consti- 
tution is in the true spirit which pervades the whole of it, and which marks it the 
result of a conference between States, surrendering in part, and retaining in part, their 
political equality. Shall this spirit be appealed from, on every occasion in which it was 
intended to soothe and conciliate, and the spirit of faction be invoked, to expose our 
magistrates to unjust prejudice, and bring our institutions into discredit ? These things 
are revolutionary in their tendency, and ought to be discouraged. 

Of like character is the complaint against the Kentucky delegation, for disregarding 
the instructions of their Legislature. We have too much respect for the Legislature 
of Kentucky to suppose that they meant to bind the delegation by an instruction. We 
can only suppose that theytneaut to furnish the best information in their power, of the 
opinions of the People on a question which had never been submitted to them. Such 
information was entitled to the respect due to intelligent opinion, and no more. It was 
not the constitutional organ through which the will of the People was to be conveyed 
to the Representative. The Representatives in Congress were directly responsible to 
their Constituents, not to the Legislature. And an attempt of the Legislature to con- 
trol the immediate Representatives of the People, would be a usurpation upon the 
rights of the People — an act, which, instead of deserving obedience, or even respect, 
required resistance and even reprobation. The faithful Representative will obey the 
instructions of his constituents whenever constitutionally given. He will pay a respect- 
ful attention to their wishes, and every evidence of their wishes. But, when not bound 
by instruction, he will look beyond the imperfect evidences of their will, informally 
conveyed ; he will rest upon the conclusions of his own mind, formed from the best 
lights he can obtain ; will consult his country's good, and firmly meet the responsibility 
of those acts, he deems proper for its attainment. This we believe the Kentucky de- 
legation did. They were not instructed — they did not choose to shelter themselves from 
responsibility, under the cover of a legislative recommendation ; consulting their awn 
judginentSj tin y preferred the man thought most capable of advancing the interest of 
Ills country ; and there is no question, that Virginia then concurred in the opinion. 
and approved the.aet. 

This vote, which; if honestly given, is an affair chiefly between the Representative 
and his Constituents, would not have been obtruded on your attention, had it not beer. 
connected with a charge of grave import, made upon the purity of the election, im- 
peaching the integrity of the Chief Magistrate of the Nation, and the first member of his 
Cabinet. This charge, \~ its strongest form, imports that, at the last election, the 



vote of the Kentucky delegation was in the market, for the highest bidder ; that it was 
offered to one candidate, and, being refused by him, was sold to the other ; and that 
the consideration of the vote, was the office of Secretary of State, bestowed on Mr, 
Clay. If this were true, we should not hesitate to affirm, that it stamps infamy on the 
characters of the guilty, and renders them forever unworthy of public trust. 

This charge, not so strongly, however, as has been here stated, was made, for the first 
time, pending the Presidential election. It was promptly met, and challenged by Mr, 
Clay, and deserted by its supporters. They rallied again, after the election, gave it a 
form somewhat varied, drew to its aid some imposing circumstances, and, at last, gave 
it the public sanction of Gen. Jackson's name. Mr. Clay again publicly denied it, called 
for the proof, and challenged inquiry. No proof has appeared to sustain it, no inquiry 
has been instituted, and now, in all its phases, it stands reprobated, by a body of proof, 
so strong and so convincing, as to require, from the least charitable, its open disavowal, 
and, from the most suspicious, a candid acknowledgment, that they have done injustice 
in even thinking it probable. 

It may not be unworthy of notice, as one of ^the means by which the public mind has 
been prejudiced and inflamed, that opinions, the most offensive to a Republican Peo- 
ple, have been unwarrantably and uncandidJy inferred from some of the President's 
communications to Congress, and gravely imputed to him, as doctrines in his political 
creed. He has, on one occasion, not perhaps with strict rhetorical propriety, used the 
expression, " palsied by the will of our constituents" — in reference to duties enjoined 
by the Constitution. 

This phrase has been torn from its context, misinterpreted, and used as the au- 
thority upon which the President is charged with the heresy, that a Representative 
owes no obligation to the will of his constituents. On another occasion, incautiously 
taking it for granted that every one would understand that the high obligation of an 
oath was derived from Heaven, he has again, perhaps, without much felicity of phrase, 
made an obvious, though not avowed reference to his oath of office, as imposing an 
obligation above all human law — and this reference is tortured into a public avowal 
of the odious doctrine, that his political power was jure divino. If these had been 
the taunts and the railing- of anonymous newspaper scribblers, they would have been 
deemed unworthy of this public notice. But when such charges are seriously made 
and reiterated, by men holding hig-h stations in the Government, and exercising some 
influence over public opinion, they cannot be too strongly condemned. 

Mr. Adams, it is said, is friendly to a regulation of the tariff of duties, with a view 
to the encouragement of American manufactures, and this is clamorously urged against 
him, as a serious objection, by those who support the election of Gen. Jackson. 

This objection seems to have been treated, before the public, as if Mr. Adams were 
the founder of a new and odious doctrine, and the father of the measures to which it 
had given birth. Nothing can be further from the truth. Not a single act of the 
Government, on this subject, has its date within his administration. And so far is he 
from being the founder of the doctrine, that it is traced to the earliest and purest times 
of the Republic, avowed and acted upon from the foundation of the Government, when 
the Father of his Country presided over its destinies. Before the adoption of the Fe- 
deral Constitution, the power of regulating commerce, and imposing duties on imports, 
belonged to the State Governments ; and such of them, as deemed it expedient, so 
regulated their tariff of duties as to give encouragement to their manufactures. The 
Constitution transferred to the Federal Government, by express provision, the power of 
regulating commerce, and of imposing duties. An act, passed at the first session of the 
first Congress, held under the Constitution, advocated by James Madison, and signed 
by George Washington, on the 20th of July, 1789, contains the first tariff of duties on 
imported goods laid by the General Government, and its preamble recites, that it was 
** necessary for the support of Government, for the discharge of the debts of the 
J * United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures.'" This doc- 
trine was acted upon, by every succeeding Administration, by the elder Adams, by 
Jefferson, by Madison, and Monroe. The policy of protecting and encouraging manu- 
factures was recommended by them all ; the tariff was increased from time to time, 
with a view to that object 5 and yet, no champion of the Constitution, .though many 
and bold and able there were, always at their posts, ever challenged the authors of these 
measures, as invaders of constitutional ground 5 until, during the administration of the 
last President, when the fathers of the Constitution, having most of them retired from 
the field of action, a member from Virginia suggested, in Congress, the want of con- 
stitutional power to give protection to manufactures, 

On this question we forbear to enter the field of argument ; and content ourselves 
with saying-, that the power of Congress to regulate the tariff of duties, so as to give. 



4 

protection and encouragement to agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and naviga- 
tion, cannot be denied, without denying to the letter of the Constitution its plain im- 
port, and to its spirit its most obvious and essential attributes ; without affirming that 
those who have administered the Government, from its foundation to the present day, 
have either misunderstood the charter of their powers, or wantonly and habitually vio- 
lated it ; without coming to the extraordinary conclusion, either that a power which 
existed in the State Governments, and was frequently exercised by them, before the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution, was annihilated by the secret and magical influ- 
ence of that instrument, or that such power does not properly pertain to the Legisla- 
ture of any free People. 

The exercise of this power is necessarily referred to the sound discretion of Congress, 
to be justly and impartially employed for the common benefit of all — not to be pervert- 
ed to the purpose of advancing the interest of one class of the community, or of one 
part of the country, at the expense of another ; and, whatever some of us may think as 
to its abuses under a former administration, or of the danger of such abuses under the 
present, all must concur in the opinion, that the remedy is not to be found in the elec- 
tion of General Jackson ; but, if sought at all, should be looked for in the vigilance and 
exertions of faithful and able Senators and Representatives in Congress. 

The opinions of Mr. Adams, and his recommendations to Congress, in relation to in- 
ternal improvement, are unpopular in Virginia, and have been urged against him with 
much earnestness, and perhaps with some effect, even though it cannot, with any color 
of reason, be contended, that his competitor, Gen. Jackson, is not exposed to precisely 
the same objection. We do not vindicate these opinions, or discuss them, because 
they fall within the interdict we have imposed on ourselves — we differ in opinion con- 
cerning them. But we will remind you, that these opinions, whatever may be their 
merit, have produced but few and unimportant acts, during the present Administration : 
and we will avail ourselves of the occasion to appeal to the good sense and good feel- 
ing of Virginia, and invoke its influence in tempering the asperity of party politics, and 
in securing to every subject of national interest, a deliberate and candid consideration. 
We beg leave also to remind them, that the questions of Constitutional law, and State 
policy, connected with this subject, are important, delicate, and of acknowledged 
difficulty ; that there are arrayed on either side of them, Statesmen of approved patri- 
otism and talent, whose opinions should be examined with great consideration, and 
whose measures, if deemed wrong, after being judged with candor, should be opposed 
with reason, not with passion — with firmness, not with violence ; — that those among 
us, who deny the Constitutional power, and condemn the policy, should entitle our 
doctrines to respect, by the fairness of our views, and the force of our reasoning, and 
give weight to our opposition, by its temper and its dignity ; while those who affirm 
the power, and approve the policy, should observe the most respectful deference for 
the opinions of the many and the wise, who differ from them ; should consult the pub- 
lic interest and tranquillity, by confining their measures to objects of acknowledged 
and general interest, by infusing into them a spirit of the most exact justice ; and by ob- 
serving, in all things, scrupulous care in the exercise of a power so delicate, and so 
much controverted. 

Thus far, we have endeavored to correct error and disarm prejudice, that reason 
might be left free to estimate fairly the present Administration, and its principal, mea- 
sures. We have offered no panegyric on the present Chief Magistrate ; — we cheerful- 
ly leave you to estimate the value of his long and varied public services, his great ex- 
perience, his talent, his learning, and his private virtues, — and to set off against them, 
whatever your fancy or your judgment may find to blame, in his private or public life. 
When you have done this — reflect on the character of the office you are about to fill- 
Inquire what feelings, what temper, what talent, what acquirements, what habits, are 
best suited to the discharge of its high duties; and then carefully compare John Q. 
Adams with Andrew Jackson, in reference to the great question, Which of them is 
best qualified for the first office in the nation— which most likely to preserve to us 
the distinguished blessings we enjoy — from which is most danger to be apprehended to 
our peace and happiness, our lives and liberties ? 

It is not in wantonness that we speak ; but, in the sadness of our hearts, we are com- 
pelled to declare, that, while we yield our confidence to the present Chief Magistrate 
in very different degrees, we are unanimous and unhesitating in the opinion that 
Andrew Jackson is altogether unfit for the Presidency, and that his election would be 
eminently dangerous ; that, while we cheerfully accord to him his full share of the glo- 
ry which renders the anniversary of the 8th of January a day of joy and triumph to 
our land, we must, in the most solemn manner, protest against a claim to civil rule, 
founded exclusively upon military renown ; and avow that nothing has occurred in the 



history of our country so much calculated to shake our confidence in the capacity of the 
People for self-government, as the efforts which have been made, and are yet making", 
to elevate to the first office in the nation, the man, who, disobeying- the orders of Jiis 
superiors, trampling on the Laws and Constitution of his country, sacrificing the liberties 
and lives of men, has made his own arbitrary will the rule of his conduct. 

In stating an opinion so unfavorable to a distinguished man, who has rendered valu- 
able services to his country, a proper respect for ourselves and for you, requires that 
we should declare the reasons which compel us to withhold our confidence from him, 
Capacity for civil affairs, in a country like ours, where the road to preferment is 
open to merit, in every class of society, is never long concealed, and seldom left in re- 
tirement. General Jackson has lived beyond the age of 60 years, and was bred to the 
'profession best calculated to improve and display the faculties which civil employments 
require ; but the history of his public life, in these employments, is told in a few brief 
lines — on a single page of his biography. He filled, successively, for very short pe- 
riods, the office of Member of the Tennessee Convention, which formed their State 
Constitution ; Representative and Senator in Congress ; Judge of the Supreme Court 
of Tennessee ; and again, Senator in Congress of the United States. Here was ample 
opportunity for distinction, if he possessed the talent, taste, and application, suited for 
civil eminence. But he resigned three, and passed through all of these stations,acknow- 
ledging his unfitness in two instances — manifestly feeling it in all — and leaving no'single 
act, no trace, behind, which stamps his qualifications above mediocrity. 

For civil government — and in no station more emphatically than in that of President 
of the United States — a well-governed temper is of admitted importance. General 
Jackson's friends lament the impetuosity of his, and all the world has evidence of its 
fiery misrule. 

To maintain peace and harmony in the delicate relations existing between the Go- 
vernment of the Union and the various State Governments in our Confederacy, re- 
quires a courtesy and forbearance in their intercourse, which no passion should disturb. 
Let the spirit of domination displayed in General Jackson's celebrated letter to Gover- 
nor Rabun, warn us of the danger of committing- to his keeping this precious deposite-— 
sacred to the union of our Republics, and to the freedom of mankind. 

Military men should never be allowed to forget, that the obligation to obey being 
the sole foundation of the authority to command, they should inculcate subordination, 
not by precept only, but by example ; that profound respect for the Laws and Consti- 
4 tution of their country, is an indispensable guarantee of their worthiness to be entrusted 
with the sword which is drawn to defend them ; that they should lose no fit occasion 
for manifesting that respect, by practical illustrations of the principle, sacred in every 
well ordered Republic, which proclaims the military subordinate to the civil power ? 
that mercy even to the guilty, and humanity always to the conquered and the captive, are 
part of the law of God and man, found in every civilized code, written in every human 
heart, and indispensahle to the true glory of the Hero. 

General Jackson has been unmindful of these truths. Though he has enjoined sub- 
ordination by precept, and enforced it by authority, he has not recommended it by 
example. He has offered indignity to the Secretary of War, in the very letter which 
assigned his reasons for disobeying an order to disband his troops ; he has placed his 
own authority in opposition to that of the War Department, by a general order, for- 
bidding the officers of his command to obey the orders of that Department, unless they 
passed through the channel which he had chosen to prescribe ; and he disobeyed the 
orders of the Government in his military operations in the Spanish territory. 

He has been unmindful of the subordination of military to civil power, and has vio- 
lated the law and the Constitution, by declaring martial law at New Orleans, and 
maintaining it, of his own arbitrary will, for more than two months after the enemy had 
been beaten and repulsed, and all reasonable apprehension of their return had ceased $ 
by surrounding the hall of the Louisiana Legislature with an armed force, and sus= 
pending their deliberations ; by seizing the person of Louaillier, a free citizen of Lou* 
isiana, and member of their Legislature, and bringing him to trial before a militaiy 
tribunal, for having the boldness to denounce, through the public press, the continued 
arbitrary reign of martial law ; by disapproving the acquittal of Louaillier upon his 
trial, when, to have condemned and executed him, would have exposed the actors in. 
the fatal tragedy to the legal pains of death ; by suspending, of his own arbitrary will, 
the writ £ habeas corpus, when the Legislature of Louisiana had refused to suspend it 
on his application, when no law of Congress authorized it, and no imminent danger 
pleaded its apology ; by arresting and imprisoning Judge Hall for issuing the writ of 
habeas corpus to relieve Louaillier from illegal confinement, and arresting and impri- 
soning two other officers of the law, for appealing to civil process against his tyrannic 



••tile ; by the arrest, trial, and execution, of six militia men, who were guilty of no other 
offence than the assertion of their lawful right to return home, after their legal term of 
service had expired ; by organizing a corps of volunteer militia, and appointing its 
officers, without any warrant for so doing, and against the provisions of the Constitution, 
which expressly reserve the appointment of the officers 'of the militia to the States 
respectively ; and by making war upon the Spanish Territory, seizing and holding 
Spanish posts, in violation of the order of his Government, and whilst peace existed 
between Spain and the United States. 

That mercy and humanity may unite with the offended Law and Constitution, in ac- 
cusing Generaljackson of being unmindful of their voice, and in refusing to his laurel, 
crown the rays of true glory, will be acknowledged by impartial posterity, when they 
review the history of his Indian campaigns, and especially when they read the stories 
of the cold-blooded massacre at the Horseshoe ; of the decoyed and slaughtered Indians 
at St. Mark's ; of the wanton and unexampled execution of Ambrister, an Englishman, 
found fighting, it is true, in the ranks of the Seminoles, but taken prisoner, tried, doom- 
ed to a milder punishment, and executed by order of the commanding General, against 
the sentence of the tribunal appointed by himself ; and of the still more injured Ar- 
buthnot, another Briton, not bearing arms at all, only found among the warring Indians, 
a trader, and an advocate for peace. 

We have done with this sickening catalogue. You have now a brief summary of the 
evidence, on die authority of which we regard General Jackson as wholly disquali-. 
fled for the Presidency, and look to the prospect of his election with the most gloomy 
forebodings. 

You think, perhaps, we pay a poor compliment to the virtues of our People, and 
the strength of our institutions, by indulging in apprehensions of danger from the 
encroachments of, military power, in the youth and vigor of our Republic, and in 
the midst of profound peace. We should, indeed, do great injustice to the virtue** of 
our People, the circumstances of our country, and the value of our Government, if we 
indulged in the idle fear, that an open attack upon our liberties, made with any mili- 
tary force, which General j. could probably command in the course of his administra- 
tion, would bring us under the yoke of his power. These are not our apprehensions ,- 
we would bid a proud defiance to his power, if he should so dare our liberties. Nor 
will we do him the injustice to charge his ambition with any designs, at present, on the 
liberties of his country, or withhold our acknowledgment, that, if they were assailed 
by others, we believe he would promptly and boldly chaw his sword to defend them. 

But we have no security for the continuance of peace, in whatsoever hands the Go- 
vernment may be placed;, and it is not unreasonable to think, that, in the hands of a man 
of military pride and talent, and of ungovernable temper, the danger of war will be in- 
creased. A foreign war may come, may rage with violence, and find General Jackson 
at the head of the civil government, and commander-in-chief of the land and naval 
forces. Dissentient views among the States may arise, controversies grow up be- 
tween the State and Federal authorities, as dissensions and controversies have heretofore 
arisen ; and who, then, we pray you, can answer for the conseqences of that spirit 
which said to Governor Rabun, When lam in the field, you have no authority to issue 
a military order ? Reflect on this question, we beseech you — on the peculiar struc- 
ture of our Government ; on the collisions of opinion, and the threatened collisions 
of action, both in peace and war, which have already occurred between the State and 
Federal authorities- and then tell us, whether the fear is altogether visionary, that the 
first foreign war, seriously waged against the United States, with General Jackson 
their chief, would bring danger of civil discord, dissolution of the Union, and death 
to the hopes of every free government in the world. 

We say nothing of the danger of civil discord, even when no foreign war should 
afftict us — though the retrospect of a few short years would teach us that such dan- 
ger is not imaginary — and that the slightest want of tact, in its management, the least 
indulgence of temper, on the part ©f the Chief Magistrate, might inflame the whole 
nation, and light the funeral pile of freedom. 

There are dangers of another kind. If we are correct in the detail of offences com- 
mitted by General Jackson, against the most sacred principles of our Government, 
what will be the moral effect of the direct sanction given to these offences, by reward- 
ing the offender with the first honor of the nation ? Can we preserve our love and re- 
verence for institutions which we suffer to be violated, not only without censure, but 
with applause ? Will not our affections and our veneration be transferred from the 
despised Laws and Constitution, to the honored Hero who has abused them — from re- 
publican simplicity and virtue, to military pomp and glory ? Will you not, in fine, by 
- -oh examnV, lay the .sure foundation of that moral depravity, and admiration of arm?., 



which must soon reduce us to the condition in which Greece was enslaved by Alex^ 
ander ; Rome, by Caesar ; England, by Cromwell ; France, by Bonaparte ; and in 
which we will assuredly find some future Jackson, not too fastidious to accept the 
proffered crown, and erect a military despotism on the ruins of the last Republic? 

We appeal to the People of Virginia, to say what there is in the present party poli- 
tics, so alluring- on the part of the Opposition, so frightful on the part of the Adminis- 
tration, as to seduce them to the fraternal embrace, or drive them under the protection, 
of such a man as Andrew Jackson } We ask an answer to this question, not from 
their offended pride, nor from the prejudice which attachment to party never fails 
to beget ; but we ask it from their love of country, their love of truth and virtue ; we 
ask it, after a deep and dispassionate consideration of the true state of the question ; 
after a candid estimate of the little to be possibly gained by the rejection of Mr. 
Adams, the incalculable mischiefs which may probably attend the success of his rival. 
If you indulge the faint hope, that, under the Administration of General Jackson, the 
tribute which agriculture will pay for the encouragement of domestic industry and en- 
terprise, will be somewhat lighter than at present — we ask you, first, whether the 
hope is not groundless ? and next, whether it is wise to insist on enjoying the profits of 
your estates in the uttermost farthing of their fancied value, at the risk of having your 
free allodial lands converted into military tenures or fiefs of the crown ? If you are 
fighting the battles of General Jackson, in this political contest, with the vain hope 
that victory will conquer from your adversaries some barren spot of constitutional 
ground — we ask whether you will wage such a war with your countrymen, at the 
hazard of laying' all your conquests, and all your former possessions — the Constitution 
itself, and the freedom it was intended to protect — at the feet of a despot ? This does 
not become the character of Virginians ! 

In the ancient state of political parties, when federalists and republicans contended 
for ascendency, there was something in the great questions of foreign policy, in the 
leading principles of construction applied to the Constitution, bearing strongly on the 
essential character of the Government, and worthy of a generous strug-gle between the 
statesmen, who, on the one hand, sought to guard against a dissolution of the Union, 
by strengthening the Federal bond, and, on the other, endeavored to avert conso- 
lidation, by establishing more firmly the State authorities. But this state of things has 
passed away, and the feelings and doctrines to which it gave rise, though not entirely 
forgotten, are almost unknown in the party distinctions of the day. Federalists and 
republicans mingle together in the ranks of the Opposition — and, together, rally arounfl 
the standard of the Administration. There will be no great principle of political doc- 
trine to distinguish them, unless the Opposition, following too closely the footsteps of 
those who trample on the Laws and Constitution of the country, should give to the 
supporters of the Administration some claim to be the champions of civil rule and 
constitutional law. Shall our parties be hereafter founded on local interests, and mark- 
ed by geographical boundaries, arraying the North against the South, the East against 
the West — losing the generous enthusiasm which is always inspired by a contest for 
principle, for honorable distinction, for pre-eminence in the service of our common 
country ; and acquiring the bitterness of spirit, acrimony of feeling, narrow policy* 
and sordid views, which ever characterise the contests of men, striving, not for the pro- 
motion of the common good, but for the advancement of their own peculiar interests — - 
and which must lead, inevitably, to the entire subjugation of the weaker party, or a dis» 
solution of the Union ? 

We know well, that the People of Virginia will never countenance any such distinc- 
tion. Their generous sacrifices in the cause of their country, their uniform devotion to 
civil liberty, and their noble daring" in the defence of freedom, from whatever quarter 
assailed, is the sure guarantee that they will not be slow to follow where the path 
of duty leads; and on that guarantee we repose with confidence, that, in this hour of 
danger, sacrificing all minor considerations, they will go forth in their strength, and 
save the Temple of Liberty from pollution. 

1. Resolved, That JOHN QUINCY ABAMS, of Massachusetts, be recommended 
to the People of the United States, as a fit person to be supported for the Office of 
President. 

2. Resolved, That this Convention approve the nomination of RICHARD RUSH, of 
the State of Pennsylvania, for the Office of Vice President,- made by the Convention 
at Harrisburg, and recommend him to the People of Virginia as a fit person to be sup- 
ported for that office. 

3. Resolved, That the President of this Convention be requested to transmit a copy 
of the proceedings and address of this Convention to each of the gentlemen wko 



8 



have been nominated on the Electoral Ticket, and inform them of their several appoint- 
ments. 

4. Resolved, That the following- persons be appointed a Central Corresponding Com- 
mittee, with the authority to fill any vacancies which may occur within their own 
body, or in the Electoral Ticket in favor of the election of John Quincy Adams as 
President of the United States, and Richard Rush as Vice President, viz .- Judge William 
H. Cabell, Judge Dabney Carr, Judge John Coalter, Mr. Robert Stanard, Reverend 
John Kerr, General J B. Harvie, Mr. Peyton Randolph, Mr. John H. Pleasants, Mr. 
Charles Copland, Mr. Thomas Brockenbrough, Mi*. E. W. Rootes, Mr. J. II. Eustace, 
Dr. Thomas Nelson. 

5. Resolved, That the Corresponding Committees, which have been appointed by the 
meetings opposed to the election of General Jackson as President of the United 
States, in the various Counties and Corporations of this Commonwealth, constitute 
the Corresponding Committees of said Counties and Corporations, with authority to 
add to their numbers, and fill any vacancies which may occur in said Committees. 

6. Resolved, That the Central Corresponding Committee be authorized to appoint 
corresponding committees in the several counties and corporations which have not 
appointed them ; which committees shall have authority to exercise the same powers 
as those which have heretofore been appointed. 

7. Resolved, That it be recommended to the Convention that each member should 
pay the sum of five dollars to the Secretaries, to be deposited in the Bank of Virginia 
to the credit of the Chairman of the Central Committee, to defray the expenses of 
printing and circulating the documents directed to be published by the Convention, 
and such other- publications as may be thought advisable by the said Central Commit- 
tee, for the purpose of distribution among the citizens of the Commonwealth, and all 
other incidental charges. 

8. Resolved, That at least thirty thousand copies of the proceedings and address of 
this Convention be printed and circulated, under the direction of the Central Com- 
mittee, through the several counties and corporations of the Commonwealth. 

9. Resolved, That the Central Corresponding Committee be requested to publish, in 
pamphlet form, as many copies of the address of the Hon. Henry Clay, with the ac- 
companying documents, as they may deem expedient, and that they cause to be pub- 
lished such other documents as, in their opinion, will sustain the facts and principles set 
forth in the address of this Convention. 

10. Resolved, That the Central Committee be requested to make to the officers of the 
Senate and House of Delegates who have attended upon this Convention during its 
session, such compensation as they may deem proper, to be paid out of the fund pro- 
vided by this Convention 

11. Resolved, That this Convention entertain feelings of unfeigned gratitude for 
the facilities offered, and the spirit of accommodation manifested, by both Houses of 
the Virginia Assembly and their officers, to this Convention, in the prosecution of their 
duties, and that the President be requested to tender the thanks of this Convention to 
both branches of the Assembly and their officers, for their kindness and liberality. 

12. Resolved, That the Editors of the several newspapers printed in Virginia be re- 
quested to publish the proceedings of the Convention, together with their address to 
the People of Virginia, in their respective papers. 



ELECTORAL TICKET FOB. VXB.GX17I.A..-1828, 



James Madison, Orange County, 
James Monroe, Loudoun, 
Stephen Wright, Norfolk, 
Benjamin Harrison, Charles City, 
Joseph Goodwyn, Dinwiddle, 
Richard Field, Brunswick, 
Edward C. Carrington, Halifax; 
Benjamin Hatcher, Manchester, 
Samuel Branch, Buckingham , 
Fleming Saunders, Franklin, 
David S. Garland, Amherst, 
Chapman Johnson, Richmond, 



Francis T. Brooke, Spottsylvania t . 
Charles Hill, King and Queen, 
Robert Lively, Elizabeth City, 
Hancock Eustace, Stafford, 
Wm. A. G. Dade, Prince William, 
Alfred H. Powell, Frederick, 
James Mausee, Rockingham, 
Archibald Stuart, Augusta, 
Ballard Smith, Greenbrier, 
Benjamin Estill, Washington, 
Lewis Summers, Kenawha, 
Alphcus B. Wilson, Monongalia, 






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